Jacksonville property manager JWB Rental Homes will pay a $25,000 fine to settle a federal complaint it charged military tenants illegal fees if they broke leases when they were ordered to move, the U.S. Department of Justice said June 23.
The company, organized as JWB Property Management LLC, will also pay $39,000 to servicemembers who were charged the fees, DOJ said in an announcement about the settlement.
The government argued JWB violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, a law that suspends some normal civilian requirements to let military members focus on their duties.
The company denied violating anything, however, and the settlement said the two sides agreed only “to avoid the delay, uncertainty, inconvenience and expenses of protracted legislation.”
Justice officials said bringing the case reflected the government’s support for servicemembers and their families.
“Our military families already shoulder the burden of military-ordered moves and deployments,” Harmeet K. Dhillon, said assistant attorney general over Justice’s Civil Rights Division, said in a DOJ release. “We will not allow them to be penalized by landlords for answering the call of duty for service.”
Gregory Kehoe, U.S. attorney for Florida’s Middle District, which includes Jacksonville, said in the same release that “our servicemembers make tremendous sacrifices to protect the rights and freedoms of our citizens and we will combat all forms of discrimination against them to help ensure that they are able to fulfill their military obligations.”
A statement by JWB Real Estate Companies President Alex Sifakis the company emailed the night of June 23 said the firm “takes special care to serve our military and veteran residents with the respect they deserve.”
Sifakis said the company “identified administrative errors within our system that could have led to incorrect fees for a small group of military residents,” but that those impacted fewer than 1% of the firm’s military move-outs. He said JWB “quickly reversed and remedied these issues before any deposit refunds were incorrectly charged” and that “JWB remains fully committed to compliance across all aspects of our residential leasing and operations, including in our military- and veterans-focused programs.”
He said the company has updated its internal controls to prevent the situation happening again.
JWB Rental managed about 5,800 rental homes in Jacksonville in 2024, the Times-Union reported at that time.
This story was updated to correct Alex Sifakis’ title and include emailed remarks from him.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Justice Department, Jacksonville property manager settle dispute about military tenant fees
Reporting by Steve Patterson, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
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